Scott Pierangeli and Jeff Getting offer markedly different options for voters in the race to be the next prosecuting attorney for Kalamazoo County.

While both candidates could serve the position, our endorsement goes to Pierangeli, an assistant prosecutor who has the solid support of the office’s leadership and has been consistently praised for his integrity. We believe his cooperative, broad-based and thoughtful approach will work well at the helm of the prosecutor’s office as it seeks to find the most effective ways to serve justice in the community.

Pierangeli, a Republican, and Getting, a Democrat, are vying to replace Republican Jeff Fink, who is retiring at the end of the year after more than eight years as the county prosecutor.

Getting, 48, certainly is a personable candidate. In many ways, his vigor mirrors former Prosecuting Attorney Jim Gregart, a man with whom he clashed and who ultimately fired Getting in 1998 from his position as an assistant prosecutor. Getting possesses an energetic force that could make for interesting dynamics in the office.

Getting, who is currently in private practice as a defense attorney, has made the heart of his campaign an attack on the practice of “pleading to the charge,” or plea agreements, which he says are offered too often to dangerous criminals. It is a catchy, sound-bite-ready pledge that he will get tough on crime. But the issues of plea agreements and sentencing are more nuanced than Getting implies, and he has not fully articulated the situation for voters. The get-tough-on-crime mantra is an attractive phrase, but it ignores the realities of the prosecution process and much of the recent work on programs such as drug court and mental health court, which work to attack the root causes of recidivism in the system.

Pierangeli,40, has campaigned on an approach that takes a tough stance on violent crimes but allows for the flexibility of using drug and sobriety courts and other alternative programs for non-violent offenders. He has also emphasized not only his experience in felony cases in circuit court, but also his decision to serve in district and family courts in recent years to ensure that he had solid experience and understanding of the issues in those divisions. We appreciate his holistic view of the system, which we believe will help ensure the office develops programs that address and support the broad needs of the community.

Pierangeli may not be as fiery as Getting, but we do not doubt he has as much passion for the office. That is a word used in letters to the editor from his supporters, who also pepper their endorsements with words such as “dedication,” “compassion” and “leadership.” The one word that is the most commonly used to describe him, however, is “integrity,” and that would be a solid place from which he could build his reputation as county prosecutor. Sometimes fiery is not the only way to express passion. Sometimes passion is expressed in a quieter, more measured tone such as that of Scott Pierangeli, our recommendation to be the next Kalamazoo County prosecutor.